Khairullah Khairkhwa

Khairullah Said Wali Khairkhwa (Pashto: خیرالله سید ولي خیرخواه [xairʊˈlɑ saˈjɪd waˈli xairˈxwɑ]; born 1967) is the Afghan Minister of Information and Culture and a former Minister of the Interior. After the fall of the Taliban government in 2001, he was held at the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camp in Cuba[2] for 12 years. He was released in late May 2014 in a prisoner exchange that involved Bowe Bergdahl and the Taliban five.[3] Press reports have referred to him as "Mullah" and "Maulavi", two different honorifics for referring to senior Muslim clerics.[4][5][6][7]

Mullah
Khairullah Khairkhwa
Khairkhwa in 2020
Minister of Information and Culture
Acting
Assumed office
7 September 2021
Supreme LeaderHibatullah Akhundzada
Prime MinisterHasan Akhund (acting)
Minister of Interior Affairs
In office
c. 1997–c. 1998
Prime MinisterMohammad Rabbani
LeaderMohammed Omar
Preceded byQari Ahmadullah
Succeeded byAbdur Razzaq Akhundzada
Governor of Herat
In office
March 2001 – October 2001
Prime MinisterMohammad Rabbani
LeaderMohammed Omar
Spokesperson for the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan
In office
c. 1995–c. 1996
Prime MinisterMohammad Rabbani
Abdul Kabir
LeaderMohammed Omar
Personal details
Born1967 (age 55–56)[1]
Kandahar, Afghanistan
Political party Taliban

Claims from analysts at Guantanamo that Khairkhwa was directly associated with Osama bin Laden and Taliban Supreme Commander Mullah Muhammad Omar have been widely repeated.[8] Kate Clark has criticized her fellow journalists for uncritically repeating U.S. claims that were largely based on unsubstantiated rumor and innuendo, or on confessions and denunciations coerced through torture and other extreme interrogation techniques.[9]

Early life

American intelligence analysts estimate that Khairkhwa was born in 1967 in Kandahar, Afghanistan. He is from the Arghistan District in Kandahar province and belongs to the Popalzai tribe.[10][11] He studied at the Darul Uloom Haqqania Islamic seminary (darul uloom or madrasa) at Akora Khattak in Pakistan, where many other Taliban leaders also studied.[10][11] He was affiliated with Mohammad Nabi Mohammadi's Islamic Revolution Movement (Harakat-i-Inqilab-i-Islami) during the Soviet–Afghan War.[10]

Khairullah was one of the original members of the Taliban in 1994[9][11] and was a spokesman for them from 1994 to 1996.[10] He was chief of police after the Taliban took control of Kabul in 1996.[12] He was the Minister of the Interior under Taliban rule in 1997 and 1998, with Abdul Samad Khaksar, also called Mohammad Khaksar, as deputy minister.

Some reports have said he had been the Taliban's deputy minister of the interior, interim minister of the interior, the minister of the interior, and the Minister of Information.[4][6] Khirullah was also to serve as the Taliban's Minister of Foreign Affairs spokesman, giving interviews to the British Broadcasting Corporation and the Voice of America. He was the Governor of Herat Province from 1999 to 2001.[10]

Kate Clark, then of the BBC News, interviewed Khairkhwa in September 2000. Clark wrote that Khairkhwa was comfortable conversing in the Dari language when most Taliban leaders, all members of Afghanistan's Pashtun ethnic group, would only speak in the Pashtun language. She wrote that under Khairkhwa, she was allowed to film openly in Herat, even though doing so was disallowed under Taliban law. She wrote that under Khairkhwa, Afghan women felt comfortable approaching her, and speaking with her, something that rarely happened in other regions of Afghanistan.[9]

According to journalist Mark Mazzetti, in February 2002, Khairkhwa and alleged CIA agent Ahmed Wali Karzai discussed the possibility of Khairkhwa surrendering and informing for the CIA. However, the deal broke down and Khairkhwa fled for Pakistan; the CIA learned of his flight through a communications intercept and the U.S. military dispatched a helicopter-borne commando team to capture Khairkhwa. However, the CIA hoped to allow the Pakistanis to recruit or capture Khairkhwa, which would also boost U.S.-Pakistan relations. Thus, the CIA recalled the drone following Khairkhwa's truck and a second drone pinpointed a different truck, whose innocent occupants were captured and later released. Khairkhwa successfully crossed into Pakistan at Spin Boldak, but after further talks over informing broke down, Khairkhwa was arrested by the Pakistanis in Chaman, transferred to the CIA in Quetta, and then sent to Guantanamo.[13]

Guantanamo Bay internment
Khairullah Khairkhwa while detained at Guantanamo Bay

Khirullah Khairkhwa arrived at the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camp in Cuba on May 1, 2002.[14][15][16]

Official status reviews

Originally, the Bush Presidency asserted that captives apprehended in the "war on terror" were not covered by the Geneva Conventions and could be held indefinitely without charge and without an open and transparent review of the justifications for their detention.[17] In 2004, the United States Supreme Court ruled, in Rasul v. Bush, that Guantanamo captives were entitled to being informed of the allegations justifying their detention and were entitled to try to refute them. Following the ruling, the Department of Defense set up the Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants (OARDEC)[17][18] in 2004.

Combatant Status Review Tribunals were held in a 3x5 meter trailer where the captive sat with his hands and feet shackled to a bolt in the floor.[19][20]

Scholars at the Brookings Institution, led by Benjamin Wittes, listed the captives still held in Guantanamo in December 2008, according to whether their detention was justified by certain common allegations. Khirullah Said Wali Khairkhwa was listed as one of the captives who:[21]

  • the military alleges were members of either al Qaeda or the Taliban and associated with the other group.[21]
  • "The military alleges ... fought for the Taliban."[21]
  • was a member of the Taliban leadership.[21]
  • was one of "36 [who] openly admit either membership or significant association with Al Qaeda, the Taliban, or some other group the government considers militarily hostile to the United States."[21]
  • had admitted "being [a] Taliban leader."[21]

On January 21, 2009, the day he was inaugurated, United States President Barack Obama issued three Executive orders related to the detention of individuals in Guantanamo.[22][23][24][25] He put in place a new review system composed of officials from six departments, where the OARDEC reviews were conducted entirely by the Department of Defense. When it reported back a year later, the Joint Review Task Force classified some individuals as too dangerous to be transferred from Guantanamo. On April 9, 2013, that document was made public after a Freedom of Information Act request.[26] Khairullah Khairkhwa was one of the 71 individuals deemed too innocent to charge but too dangerous to release. Obama said those in that category would start to receive reviews from a Periodic Review Board. The first review was not convened until November 20, 2013.[27]

Release

The Afghanistan High Peace Council called for his release in 2011.[28] In early 2011, President Hamid Karzai demanded his release and Hekmat Karzai, the director of the Centre for Conflict and Peace Studies in Kabul, said "His release will be influential to the peace process," and that "Mr Khairkhwa is well respected amongst the Taliban and was considered a moderate by those who knew him".[29][30]

Throughout the fall of 2011 and the winter of 2012, the United States conducted peace negotiations with the Taliban and widely leaked that a key sticking point was the ongoing detention of Khairkhwa and four other senior Taliban, Norullah Noori, Mohammed Fazl, Abdul Haq Wasiq[31][32][33][34] – the Taliban Five. Negotiations hinged on a proposal to send the five men directly to Doha, Qatar, where they would be allowed to set up an official office for the Taliban.

In March 2012, it was reported that Ibrahim Spinzada, described as "Karzai's top aide", had spoken with the five men in Guantanamo earlier that month and had secured their agreement to be transferred to Qatar.[34] Karzai, who had initially opposed the transfer, then reportedly backed the plan.

The Taliban Five were flown to Qatar and released on June 1, 2014. Simultaneously, U.S. soldier and deserter Bowe Bergdahl was released in eastern Afghanistan. The Taliban Five were required to spend the next year in Qatar, a condition of their release.[35] They are the only "forever prisoners" to be released without being cleared by a review[36] by the Periodic Review Board.

2021 Taliban government

On September 7, 2021, Khairkhwa was named the new Minister of Information and Culture for the interim government.

References
  1. https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/82290-isn-579-khirullah-said-wali-khairkhwa-jtf-gtmo/15ea7dcb2f3a3d9f/full.pdf
  2. "List of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from January 2002 through May 15, 2006". United States Department of Defense. Retrieved 2006-05-15.
  3. Dorell, Oren (May 31, 2014). "U.S. Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl freed in Afghanistan". USA Today. Retrieved 3 March 2017.
  4. Tayler, Letta (December 31, 2001). "Blood Feud in Afghanistan". The Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on 4 March 2017. Retrieved 3 March 2017.
  5. "Afghanistan's Taliban, opposition both claim gains". CNN. July 31, 1997. Retrieved 3 March 2017.
  6. Klasra, Kaswar (January 26, 2010). "UN seeks to drop some Taliban leaders". The Nation. Retrieved 3 March 2017.
  7. "Eight dead in Afghan blast". BBC News. May 4, 2001. Retrieved 3 March 2017.
  8. Eyder Peralta (31 May 2014). "Who Are The 5 Guantanamo Detainees In Prisoner Swap? – Nation & World News". www.wuft.org. Retrieved 22 October 2018.
  9. Kate Clark (2012-03-09). "Releasing the Guantanamo Five? 1: Biographies of the Prisoners (amended)". Afghanistan Analysts Network. Archived from the original on 2015-05-21. Retrieved 2015-07-05. Unlike many Taleban, he was comfortable speaking to a foreigner and, very unusually, happy to be interviewed in Persian (most Taleban would only speak Pashto at the time). Herat, where he was the governor, was noticeably more relaxed than Kabul, Mazar or Kandahar: I filmed openly in the city (then an illegal act), the economy was reasonably buoyant and women came up to chat – a very rare occurrence.
  10. Strick van Linschoten, Alex; Kuehn, Felix (2012). An Enemy We Created: The Myth of the Taliban-Al Qaeda Merger in Afghanistan. Oxford University Press. p. 477. ISBN 9780199977239. Retrieved 14 September 2021.
  11. Jeffrey Dressler; Isaac Hock (6 April 2012). "Releasng Taliban detainees: A misguided path to peace" (PDF). Understanding War. Retrieved 29 September 2012.
  12. "Red Cross: Families ID detainees in list". USA Today. 20 April 2006.
  13. Mazzetti, Mark (2014). The Way of the Knife: The CIA, a Secret Army, and a War at the Ends of the Earth. New York: Penguin. pp. 21–23. ISBN 978-0-14-3125013.
  14. JTF-GTMO (2007-03-16). "Measurements of Heights and Weights of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba". Department of Defense. Archived from the original on 2009-01-25. Retrieved 2008-12-22.
  15. "Measurements of Heights and Weights of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (ordered and consolidated version)" (PDF). Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas, from DoD data. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-06-13.
  16. Margot Williams (2008-11-03). "Guantanamo Docket: Khirullah Said Wali Khairkhwa". New York Times. Retrieved 2010-03-30.
  17. "U.S. military reviews 'enemy combatant' use". USA Today. 2007-10-11. Archived from the original on 2007-10-23. Critics called it an overdue acknowledgment that the so-called Combatant Status Review Tribunals are unfairly geared toward labeling detainees the enemy, even when they pose little danger. Simply redoing the tribunals won't fix the problem, they said, because the system still allows coerced evidence and denies detainees legal representation.
  18. "Q&A: What next for Guantanamo prisoners?". BBC News. 2002-01-21. Archived from the original on 23 November 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-24.
  19. Guantánamo Prisoners Getting Their Day, but Hardly in Court, New York Times, November 11, 2004 - mirror Archived 2007-09-30 at the Wayback Machine
  20. Inside the Guantánamo Bay hearings: Barbarian "Justice" dispensed by KGB-style "military tribunals", Financial Times, December 11, 2004
  21. Benjamin Wittes, Zaathira Wyne (2008-12-16). "The Current Detainee Population of Guantánamo: An Empirical Study" (PDF). The Brookings Institution. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-06-01. Retrieved 2010-02-16.
  22. Andy Worthington (2012-10-25). "Who Are the 55 Cleared Guantánamo Prisoners on the List Released by the Obama Administration?". Retrieved 2015-02-19. I have already discussed at length the profound injustice of holding Shawali Khan and Abdul Ghani, in articles here and here, and noted how their cases discredit America, as Khan, against whom no evidence of wrongdoing exists, nevertheless had his habeas corpus petition denied, and Ghani, a thoroughly insignificant scrap metal merchant, was put forward for a trial by military commission — a war crimes trial — under President Bush.
  23. Andy Worthington (June 11, 2010). "Does Obama Really Know or Care About Who Is at Guantánamo?". Archived from the original on June 16, 2010. Retrieved July 21, 2010.
  24. Peter Finn (January 22, 2010). "Justice task force recommends about 50 Guantanamo detainees be held indefinitely". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2015-05-04. Retrieved July 21, 2010.
  25. Peter Finn (May 29, 2010). "Most Guantanamo detainees low-level fighters, task force report says". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2015-05-10. Retrieved July 21, 2010.
  26. "71 Guantanamo Detainees Determined Eligible to Receive a Periodic Review Board as of April 19, 2013". Joint Review Task Force. 2013-04-09. Archived from the original on 2015-05-19. Retrieved 2015-05-18.
  27. "Periodic Review Secretariat: Review Information". Periodic Review Secretariat. Archived from the original on 2016-04-15. Retrieved 2016-04-18.
  28. Farmer, Ben (2011-02-06). "Afghan peace council risks angering US by demanding release of Taliban leader Khairullah Khairkhwa from Guantanamo". The Telegraph (UK). Kabul. Archived from the original on 2011-04-14. Retrieved 2015-07-06. The demand that Khairullah Khairkhwa is released has emerged as the first formal recommendations from the High Peace Council.
  29. Nordland, Rod (2011-02-08). "Karzai Calls for Release of Taliban Official From Guantánamo". The New York Times.
  30. "Rebranding the Taliban". Al Jazeera. 2011-03-14. Archived from the original on 2011-10-05. Retrieved 2012-03-12. On March 28, the Federal District Court in Washington, DC, will hear a case on behalf of Khairullah Khairkhwa, a former high-ranking Taliban official who has been held at Guantanamo Bay for the past eight years.
  31. M K Bhadrakumar (2012-01-10). "There's more to peace than Taliban". Asia Times. Archived from the original on 2012-01-12. Retrieved 2012-01-11. Nevertheless, Iranian media insist that three high-ranking Taliban leaders have been released - Mullah Khairkhawa, former interior minister; Mullah Noorullah Noori, a former governor; and Mullah Fazl Akhund, the Taliban's chief of army staff - in exchange for an American soldier held by the Taliban.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  32. "Guantanamo Taliban inmates 'agree to Qatar transfer'". BBC News. 2012-03-10. Archived from the original on 2012-03-12. Retrieved 2012-03-12. If the president pursues this strategy, though, he will need support from wary politicians in Congress, our correspondent says. Many there see a transfer of what they call the most dangerous inmates at Guantanamo as a step too far, he adds.
  33. Rahim Faiez, Anne Gearan (2012-03-12). "Taliban prisoners at Guantánamo OK transfer". Miami Herald. Archived from the original on 2012-03-25. Retrieved 2012-03-12. Five top Taliban leaders held by the U.S. in the Guantánamo Bay military prison told a visiting Afghan delegation they agree to a proposed transfer to the tiny Gulf state of Qatar, opening the door for a possible move aimed at bringing the Taliban into peace talks, Afghan officials said Saturday.
  34. Hamid Shalizi (2012-03-10). "Taliban Guantanamo detainees agree to Qatar transfer - official". Reuters. Archived from the original on 2012-03-12. Retrieved 2012-03-12. Karzai's top aide, Ibrahim Spinzada, visited the Guantanamo facility this week to secure approval from the five Taliban prisoners to be moved to Qatar.
  35. "American soldier held captive in Afghanistan is now free". MSNBC. Retrieved 1 June 2014.
  36. Carol Rosenberg (2016-03-25). "Guantánamo Periodic Review Board Guide". Miami Herald. Archived from the original on 2016-04-05.
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